Bill Drysdale, Southern CaliforniaMember Since March 2010Artist Statement I am inspired by images set in days gone by, and I have a desire to stir emotions. Like a classic song, I hope to transport the viewer to a moment of simpler times. I have been told that my work bring a smile to one’s face.

I began drawing and painting as soon as I could hold a paintbrush and pencil. I majored in art in college and hold a Bachelor of Arts degree from the art department at California State University, Long Beach. My training includes a solid foundation in art, design, and illustration. I studied with many accomplished artists, including Dick Oden and Ernie Kolar.
Upon completion of my studies, I pursued freelance art, while working as a set designer for a major furniture company. Some of my first assignments included illustrating Alpha Romeos for Alphantics, a publication in Baltimore, Maryland, and designing decorative three-dimensional silk-screened clocks for Art Unlimited in Los Angeles. I painted backgrounds for film producer Jack Williamson and learned animation under the direction of ex-Disney animator George Geopper, who was well known as one of Pluto’s animators. I later became a full-time freelance artist, specializing in architectural illustration, and have rendered homes and commercial buildings for 30-plus years, including the residence of author Dean Koontz and a resort, including a clubhouse, polo fields, stables and bungalows, for the Sultan of Brunei.

I began painting fine art watercolors in 1992 and first exhibited my work at the Art-A-Fair in Laguna Beach. In 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2011, I was an exhibitor at Laguna Beach’s Festival of Arts. Over the years, I have exhibited in numerous galleries and art shows, and I am currently showing at the Watercolor Gallery and McKibben Studios, both in Laguna Beach. I am also represented by Sagebrush Publishing in Utah.